House price collapse fait accompli, page-296

Regarding: While I'm all for targeted immigration.

But it seems we need to get our immigration house in order first MS, otherwise there is no way we will get the 195,000 immigrants we need.

QUOTE: "I think the biggest issue at the moment is actually getting people into the country regardless of what the cap is," said Blair Chapman, director of Deloitte Access Economics. "We're really competing on a global scale now with shortages reported all across the world and there needs to be serious thought given to how we actually attract people to Australia."

Part of the problem is that hundreds of thousands of people are waiting for their visa applications to be processed, creating a disincentive for new highly skilled applicants who may have offers elsewhere.

Australia's immigration policies are notoriously tough, but Mistry from Easymigrate said even for people with highly sought-after skills, the visa system can be frustratingly slow.

"It could take sort of eight to 12 months to bring someone in, so it becomes a big disincentive to businesses who are kind of looking for someone to start immediately," he said. Partner visas can take up to two years, he added.

Mistry said the problems predate the pandemic, going back five years or so to when Border Force, the agency tasked with border control, was absorbed into a larger Department of Home Affairs. "It seems to have been a very big culture shift from being about facilitating visas to one of more border protection," Mistry said.

Australia shut its borders to workers, now it's desperate to get them back - CNN